Microsoft - Page 159 of 239

This Isn’t Your Father’s Panzer Dragoon

Project Draco is the latest title from the designer behind Panzer Dragoon The game is a sci-fi yarn in which humans colonized an unnamed planet inhabited by dragons. The humans are able to befriend the dragons and control them. Enter Project Draco The game is a Kinect rail shooter, but promises 180 degrees of freedom.…

By Brian Ashcraft Published September 15, 2011

Do You Know Whose Voice Haunts This Game?

Haunt is the latest title from Masaya Matsuura, the designer best known for Parappa the Rapper Haunt is an Xbox Live title for Kinect. It’s set in a haunted house with players fending off ghosts and shining a flashlight down creepy hallways. It’s not scary, and it’s kid friendly. For gamers, Haunt has a special…

By Brian Ashcraft Published September 15, 2011

Halo 2‘s “Headlong” Gets a Stunning Anniversary Makeover

With excellent sniping spots and what amounts to a vehicular combat arena at the bottom, Halo 2‘s “Headlong” multiplayer map is reborn as “Breakneck” in Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary. Bask in the glorious gameplay footage and screens, plus get a peek at the very first Halo campaign level in all its remastered glory. Making its…

By Mike Fahey Published September 14, 2011

Are You Going Commando To the Gears Of War 3 Launch

GameStop sent us a box of underwear, t-shirts and steak seasoning to help promote their Go Commando Gears of War 3 giveaway… What now? The t-shirts all say Go Commando, as do the boxers, but what about that steak seasoning? “Omaha steak seasoning – to help prepare a Gears meat shield.” Wait, doesn’t the underwear…

By Brian Crecente Published September 14, 2011

There’s Xbox Live Inside Every Copy of Windows 8

Confirmed today during Microsoft’s 2011 Build developer conference in Anaheim, California, Windows 8 will have the Xbox Live service built right in. What does it all mean? Aside from further justifying the upcoming fall Xbox 360 dashboard update, the integration of Xbox Live into Windows 8 means more to Microsoft than it does to us…

By Mike Fahey Published September 13, 2011

Xbox.com, Xbox Live Down and Out

Xbox.com and Xbox Live is down for some as of 9 a.m. or so. Here’s the official word from Xbox Live’s Eric Neustadter: “Xbox.com is having issues at the moment. It’s being worked on – sorry for the hassle, folks.”

By Brian Crecente Published September 13, 2011

Culture

Age of Empires’ Art is Like Free-to-Play Ice Cream

When opting for “cartoon” graphics, there’s a fine line between looking stylish and looking childish. Age of Empires Online, I think, gets it just right. The fact the recently-released online game doesn’t look like the old Age of Empires has upset some fans, and that’s unavoidable. Still, it’s a shame, as the new game looks…

By Luke Plunkett Published September 13, 2011

Spend the Witching Hour With Gears of War 3

There will be more than 20,000 midnight launches next week to kick off the release of Xbox 360’s Gears of War 3. Among the events is a Times Square party at the Best Buy Theater in New York featuring Big Sean. Launching Sept. 20 worldwide, Microsoft says the game is the fastest pre-selling Xbox exclusive…

By Brian Crecente Published September 12, 2011

Win $10,000 and Score a Gears of War 3 Console in deviantART’s Wallpaper Contest

The ‘Shop Contest we run on weekends is for bragging rights only. deviantART don’t fuck around, however. It’s offering a $10,000 cash prize to whomever sends in the best wallpaper in a promotional Gears of War 3 contest offering a lot of other loot to the runners-up, too. For the first time, deviantART is permitting…

By Owen Good Published September 10, 2011

“Swatting,” the Hip New Griefing Trend, Sends the Cops to Xbox Live Mod’s House

Cops in Sammamish, Wash. are super pissed after being sent to a home here by a 911 call claiming someone inside had claymore mines and hostages. The caller turns out to be a prick seeking revenge on an Xbox Live moderator. Rolling Johnny Law up to someone’s doorstep just to cause them trouble is called…

By Owen Good Published September 10, 2011

With The Coming Dashboard Update, Your Xbox Might Finally Replace Your Cable Box

I haven’t had cable since I moved, and my Xbox 360 had a lot to do with that. Over the past few years, my Xbox 360 has become a bit of a “Netflix Box,” and more often than not I’m using it to stream episodes of Twin Peaks and Star Trek: The Next Generation. Yesterday,…

By Kirk Hamilton Published September 9, 2011

Microsoft Bans Users for Stealing Xbox Live Content

Last month, Microsoft very quietly swept a broom through the Xbox Live userbase, finding—and banning—a number of Xbox 360 owners for “illegitimately [accessing] Xbox LIVE Marketplace downloadable content”. As the company “will not divulge additional information regarding individual suspensions for these offenses”, it’s unclear what brought on the crackdown, or how the culprits were able…

By Luke Plunkett Published September 7, 2011

Is This a Sign of Microsoft’s Japanese Retreat?

After spending millions upon millions of dollars promoting the Xbox 360 in Japan, Microsoft still only sells about 2,000 or so consoles every week. Last sales week, the Xbox 360 was outsold by the PS2. The PS2! After all these years, it looks like Microsoft might finally be tossing in the towel and calling it…

By Brian Ashcraft Published September 7, 2011

Rise of Nightmares’ Tearful, Red-in-the-Face New Trailer

Rise of Nightmares will get your blood pumping, even if it is just from standing up and going through the motions of killing virtual enemies. I’m not sure anyone is going to get THIS excited about air-chainsawing creepies, but it is sorta fun. You can contact Brian Crecente, the author of this post, at [email protected].…

By Brian Crecente Published September 6, 2011

The Music of Gears of War 3 Will Be Commercialized

On September 20, the same day Epic and Microsoft unleashed Gears of War 3, Sumthing Else Music Works will release Steve Jablonsky’s epic score for the game on iTunes, Amazon, and SumthingDigital.com. Are your MP3 players prepared for war?

By Mike Fahey Published September 6, 2011

Halo Creative Director Leaving Halo 4 [Update]

Halo 4 is the first title in a new trilogy of Halo games. The previous three titles were developed by Bungie, but the next three are being made in-house by Microsoft’s own Halo studio. Halo 4 won’t be out until late 2012, and today, one of the game’s creative directors, Ryan Payton, is not only…

By Brian Ashcraft Published September 6, 2011

This Halo Helmet Looks Good Enough for the Movie They’ll Never Make

The way it’s looking there’ll never be a Halo movie. Ah well! So long as regular humans keep making killer props like this, we’re free to imagine our own. Which is always for the best, because then, they never end up sucking. This helmet was submitted to MAKE magazine by creator Tsabo Tsaboc over the…

By Luke Plunkett Published September 5, 2011

European Retailer Stops Selling Busted Old 360 Consoles

Two of Europe’s biggest games retailers, Game and Gamestation (the latter owned by the former), have stopped selling old models of the Xbox 360, according to a report on Eurogamer While Game told the site that this was simply due to a focus on new hardware, a more likely reason came from a contact at…

By Luke Plunkett Published September 5, 2011

We’re Betting that Slavery: The Game is an Elaborate Troll

My guess is that, 10 seconds after Microsoft and Sony are made aware that their corporate symbols are endorsing a fake slavery RTS, seen at the end of this fake trailer, this offensive piece of attention-whoring is going to be abolished from YouTube. That, or the alleged Kentuckians allegedly making this game are stupid enough…

By Owen Good Published September 3, 2011

The Best Gears of War Book You’ll Ever Read

In anticipation of the upcoming Gears of War 3, Microsoft and Epic contracted novelist and Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter author Tom Bissell to take a deeper look into the design and history of the Gears franchise. Titled “The Art and Design of Gears of War,” it covers most every aspect of the Gears…

By Kirk Hamilton Published September 1, 2011